Engineered Systems Ltd

Programme and Project Management by Ed Johnston

Business Systems Consultancy

Having implemented many systems in different organisations,
Engineered Systems can provide insight into not just the job of
implementing technology but how businesses can get good value
from their substantial investments

What Is Systems Consultancy

In its simplest form, it is providing advice and guidance on
getting best benefit from technology investment.

However, describing it that way gives a false impression that
this is all about technology while in fact it is about business
benefit realisation.

I have seen many excellent technical solutions being
implemented and only a fraction of the benefit being realised as
the organisation expects the system to do all the work for them.
In fact the business is always the thing that has to change and
develop, to make best use of the new tools available in order to
get the optimum result.

Clearly there are other, worse outcomes where simply the
wrong or inadequate systems are put in place and then the
business has a bigger issue to face.

Systems Consultancy must look at the target business and find
the right systems for it. It must then ensure the business takes
the opportunities of using that new tool and getting the
absolute maximum return from it. This must all be achieved
without distracting the business from its primary line of
business so for instance, a sales team remains focused on their
sales, not on feeding systems with interesting data.

Analysis

First the business opportunity must be identified and
analysed.

Some opportunities come and hit you in the face, for instance
regulation, capacity, acquisition and other drivers can require
immediate attention. Others creep up on a business like system
obsolescence and organic growth.

The most interesting opportunities are often the most
difficult to spot, especially in a business that is not focused
on IT. These are the technology enabled opportunities for new
business or growth. For instance how the ever growing Mobile
marketplace will affect your business. This is where the Systems
Consultant can really add value, revealing an opportunity that
might otherwise remain untapped or ensuring that such
opportunities are pursued with a practical knowledge rather than
unjustified optimism.

Once the opportunity (or bluntly the necessity) for change is
identified, the interesting work can begin of matching a
solution with the challenge. During this stage of work, fresh
eyes can be brought onto the business with experience of
technology and associated business change. The overall scope and
scale of the opportunity, risks, costs and impact can be
assessed and a few options drawn up with outline business case.

Depending on the scale, this can be taken further to product
or supplier selection and more detailed analysis in order to get
a more accurate picture of what the new world will look like.

Design

This is where we get down to brass tacks. While a lot of the
above can be considered preparation or speculative, the Design
stage is where theory is turned into practical reality and a few
more resources are used to get there.

Again, Design often implies that there is a technology
systems design to be done. Of course there is, but the other
element is organisational design: what people, skills and
management structure you need to work with the new systems and
develop the opportunity.

Organisation change is often a threat to those affected, so
great care and careful consideration must be made to understand
the current capabilities so they can be best used in the new
organisation and to carefully plan the transition from one to
the other.

Change

Here we are into the realm of Project Management in which the
Systems Consultant has a vital role to play in guiding and
shaping the project, as well as ensuring it remains within the
overall business case originally proposed at the earlier stages
of the engagement.

Inevitably as the implementation proceeds new issues and
items of detail will arise, some of which will impact the
original solution. The systems consultant will ensure that these
do not affect the overall business case and outcomes by working
closely with both Business and Project teams.

Monitoring

And finally, the solutions and organisation is all in place
and working. Well things never quite go to plan and foresight
is never quite perfect, so an on-going brief to monitor
performance in production is essential, both to ensure the
benefits are realised and to develop any new opportunities that
arise as a consequence of the original engagement.